ThenumberofspeakersofEnglishinShakespeare’stimeisestimated(估计)tohavebeenaboutfivemillion.Todayitisestimatedthatsome260millionpeoplespeakitasanativelanguage,mainlyintheUnitedStates,Canada,GreatBritain,Ireland,SouthAfrica,AustraliaandNewZealand.InadditiontothestandardvarietiesofEnglishfoundintheseareas,thereareagreatmanyregionalandsocialvarietiesofthelanguageaswellasvariouslevelsofusagethatareemployedbothinitsspokenandwrittenforms.Infact,itisimpossibletoestimatethenumberofpeopleintheworldwhohaveacquiredanadequate(足够的)workingknowledgeofEnglishinadditiontotheirownlanguages.ThepurposeforEnglishlearningandthesituationsinwhichsuchlearningtakesplacearesovariedthatitisdifficulttoexplainandstillmoredifficulttojudgewhatformsanadequateworkingknowledgeforeachsituation.ThemainreasonforthewidespreaddemandforEnglishisitspresent-dayimportanceasaworldlanguage.Besidesservingtheindefiniteneedsofitsnativespeakers,Englishisalanguageinwhichsomeofimportantworksinscience,technology,andotherfieldsarebeingproduced,andnotalwaysbynativespeakers.Itiswidelyusedforsuchpurposesasmeteorologicalandairportcommunications,internationalconferences,andthespreadofinformationovertheradioandtelevisionnetworksofmanynations.Itisalanguageofwidercommunicationforanumberofdevelopingcountries,especiallyformerBritishcolonies.Manyofthesecountrieshavemultilingualpopulationsandneedalanguageforinternalcommunicationinsuchmattersasgovernment,commerce,industry,lawandeducationaswellasforinternationalcommunicationandforentrancetothescientificandtechnologicaldevelopmentsintheWest.WhattypeofdevelopingcountrieswouldbemostlikelytouseEnglish
A. ThosegeographicallyclosetotheUnitedStates.
B. ThoseinterestedinthecultureoftheUnitedStates.
C. FormercoloniesofGreatBritain.
D. Countrieswhereinternationalconferencesareheld.